Greg Bishop of the New York Times reports that former New England Patriots employee Matt Walsh has sent the NFL eight videotapes showing the play-calling signals of five opponents in six games from 2000 to 2002. But Walsh does not have a tape of the St. Louis Rams' walk-through practice prior to the 2002 Super Bowl.

The most explosive accusation against the Patriots and coach Bill Belichick in the Spygate story was the Boston Herald's report that they taped the Rams' final practice before the Super Bowl. Walsh's lawyer said this about that:

"Mr. Walsh has never claimed to have a tape of the walk-through. Mr. Walsh has never been the source of any of the media speculation about such a tape. Mr. Walsh was not the source for the Feb. 2 Boston Herald article."

We can't say much without knowing the precise content of the eight tapes, but right now, this sounds like good news for the Patriots and Belichick. If all Walsh can show is what we already knew -- that the Patriots were taping opponents in violation of league rules -- the NFL is unlikely to tack on additional discipline.

A former New England Patriots employee has sent the N.F.L. eight videotapes showing the team recorded play-calling signals by coaches of five opponents in six games between the 2000 and 2002 seasons, in violation of league rules.

But the group of tapes does not include video of the St. Louis Rams’ walk-through practice the day before the 2002 Super Bowl. The employee, Matt Walsh, had been linked to such a tape by news media speculation.

Walsh emerged as a pivotal figure in the spying controversy that enveloped the Patriots last season after they were caught taping Jets defensive signals in the season opener.

Walsh, who worked for the Patriots from 1997 to 2003, agreed to turn over the tapes and other evidence by Thursday under an agreement reached last month between lawyers for the N.F.L. and Walsh. The agreement indemnifies Walsh from all future legal fees.

Walsh’s tapes show that the Patriots recorded the signals of offensive and defensive coaches in regular-season games against the Miami Dolphins, the Buffalo Bills, the Cleveland Browns and the San Diego Chargers and against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 2002 American Football Conference championship game. In that game, the tape has been edited to show Steelers coaches signaling plays, followed by two different camera angles of the actual plays that were called.

The New York Times obtained a list of the Walsh videotapes. The information was later confirmed by Walsh’s lawyer, Michael Levy, from the Washington offices of McKee Nelson.

The N.F.L. declined to comment Wednesday night because it did not have the tapes in its possession.

The Boston Herald reported the day before this year’s Super Bowl that a tape of the Rams existed, citing an anonymous source.

Walsh does not possess such a tape, Levy said.

“Mr. Walsh has never claimed to have a tape of the walk-through,” Levy said in a telephone interview. “Mr. Walsh has never been the source of any of the media speculation about such a tape. Mr. Walsh was not the source for the Feb. 2 Boston Herald article.”

On Tuesday, Walsh is scheduled to speak with Commissioner Roger Goodell and Senator Arlen Specter in separate meetings. Walsh could provide additional information at that time, including how the taping worked, how extensive it was, which Patriots employees were involved and the significance of the evidence he handed over.

The first tape is dated Sept. 25, 2000, from a game the previous day. The last is from Sept. 29 two years later.

All the tapes are scheduled to arrive at N.F.L. offices Thursday morning.

Levy would not say whether Walsh was behind the camera on each tape, but confirmed that Walsh obtained the first seven tapes during his time in the Patriots’ video department, which ended after the 2002 Super Bowl.

The last tape, in September 2002 against the Chargers, was shot by someone else after Walsh left the video department for a job in the scouting department that ended in early 2003.

The Chargers tape shows raw footage, Levy said, of the San Diego coaches from the Patriots’ sideline, followed by a shot of the scoreboard showing time, down and distance. The tape contains no footage of actual plays during the game, only the sequence, which the Patriots could match to play tape.

The other seven tapes are more sophisticated. They show shots of the opposing coaches’ signals, followed immediately by a shot of the play, usually from the end zone camera, Levy said.

The tape from the A.F.C. championship game is the most extensive, showing two angles of each play.

Goodell has left open the possibility that additional evidence will lead to additional penalties against Coach Bill Belichick and the Patriots.

After the Jets game, Goodell levied a total of $750,000 in fines and docked the Patriots a first-round draft pick.

After this year’s Super Bowl, Goodell met with Specter and revealed for the first time that Belichick’s illegal signal filming dated to the beginning of his tenure with the Patriots, in 2000. Some accounts said Belichick admitted to taping defensive signals, others just signals in general.

At the Super Bowl, Goodell said of the Patriots’ practice of taping, “I don’t think it taints their accomplishments.”

Under Belichick, the Patriots rose from one of the league’s middling teams to its best, winning three Super Bowls in four seasons. Last season, they went undefeated until losing to the Giants in the Super Bowl.

Based on a win-loss tally from games after the ones on tapes provided by Walsh, the Patriots went 9-6 against the Dolphins after the first taping. They also went 12-1 against the Bills, 3-0 against the Browns, 4-1 against the Steelers and 3-1 against the Chargers. This included three victories and no defeats in the playoffs.

“We consider the tapes of our coaching staff during our games against the New England Patriots to be a nonissue,” the Steelers chairman, Dan Rooney, said in a statement released in February.

Telephone messages to the five teams left Wednesday night were not answered.

Since Belichick’s first season in New England, when the Patriots finished 5-11, they have gone 86-26 in the regular season, a .768 winning percentage. It remains unclear whether the league will make the tapes public. During the initial investigation into the Patriots, the league accepted seven tapes gathered by the team, dating to 2006, while collecting a written promise that it possessed no more. The N.F.L. destroyed the tapes that the Patriots turned over.

Under the indemnity agreement, Walsh’s lawyer can keep one copy of each tape, but he cannot release it without the league’s consent.

It burns me that there is all this evidence of continued and purposeful cheating by the Pats for YEARs, but the only punishment they get is as if it was only one game.

They should tack on extra punishment because their original one wasn't a real punishment at all. Players get more for getting caught with Steroids one time. BB cheats his way throughout his career and looses chump change and only a low 1st round pick.

"Cheats on his wife, cheats at his job. He's just a piss-poor excuse for a human being".

Loser. 50+ % of all marriges fail. Which means either you or your wife is banging the neighbor. Or has. And if not, then 4 of he next 6 are. So I don't know whether to congratulate you or not...

As for cheating... old news. Your just pissed the only thing you can hang your hat on is stopping a streak a few years ago. Since then, nothings changed for us... we're still winning and your still crying about doing nothing in the playoffs again and again and again.

As for someone yapping about BB winning since he got here, couple things.

He went to the super bowl with Parcells his last season, then came back after a short stint with the J-e-t-s and continued winning. And oh yeah, he picked up a guy named Brady:icon_tease:. That's all you need is a QB and a defensive coach. You traded your real QB. Charger players just keep popping on drug tests (when are they going to punish the organization a draft pick and 750K to make sure they run a clean organization?). I'm sorry, but your window is closed. LT is done, the injuries will come fast and furius now (not that I want him to get hurt, but that's just how injuries work, especially with RB's).

yeah, and by the way, I'm not new, just my first post (on any board), I've been lurking here (and other team sites) for years, including when you guys (for some reason) thought there was some sort of rivalry between our teams. There isn't. Just the colts. Your team bores me. :icon_rofl:

A lack of evidence doesn't equal innocence. We all know he is a cheating bastard.

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If OJ Simpson can walk after killing two people, Bill Belicheat can get away with this unfortunately. Too many people think cheating is no big deal, sad state of affairs for our society as a whole! No shame!!

...sorry, a little hasty.
I get a little frustrated when I come over here because of all the venum. Way more than other sites. Brady baby this, BB cheating on wife that, spygate, spygate, spygate. Brady's woman got pregnant, not him. She got off the pill, not him. Obviously he couldn't have know. I covered Bill. Spygate is now where it should be, gone.

You really do sound like the kid that didn't start for his high school football team, so he tried to get the better players in trouble so you could get in for a couple of snaps. Wouldn't it be funny if something had happened, and BB had been suspended for a year? The team who won the super bowl would be PISSED. They'd be remembered in the same breath as strike teams... if that's what you were aiming for...I guess.

And let me take a minute to pre-empt 18-1. We won't be remembered as being 18-1 so much as the only reason the Giants will be remembered is for beating the Patriots! We beat ALL COMERS (including you twice), just got tired at the end... no biggie.

...sorry, a little hasty.
I get a little frustrated when I come over here because of all the venum. Way more than other sites. Brady baby this, BB cheating on wife that, spygate, spygate, spygate. Brady's woman got pregnant, not him. She got off the pill, not him. Obviously he couldn't have know. I covered Bill. Spygate is now where it should be, gone.

You really do sound like the kid that didn't start for his high school football team, so he tried to get the better players in trouble so you could get in for a couple of snaps. Wouldn't it be funny if something had happened, and BB had been suspended for a year? The team who won the super bowl would be PISSED. They'd be remembered in the same breath as strike teams... if that's what you were aiming for...I guess.

And let me take a minute to pre-empt 18-1. We won't be remembered as being 18-1 so much as the only reason the Giants will be remembered is for beating the Patriots! We beat ALL COMERS (including you twice), just got tired at the end... no biggie.

"Cheats on his wife, cheats at his job. He's just a piss-poor excuse for a human being".

Loser. 50+ % of all marriges fail. Which means either you or your wife is banging the neighbor. Or has. And if not, then 4 of he next 6 are. So I don't know whether to congratulate you or not...

As for cheating... old news. Your just pissed the only thing you can hang your hat on is stopping a streak a few years ago. Since then, nothings changed for us... we're still winning and your still crying about doing nothing in the playoffs again and again and again.

As for someone yapping about BB winning since he got here, couple things.

He went to the super bowl with Parcells his last season, then came back after a short stint with the J-e-t-s and continued winning. And oh yeah, he picked up a guy named Brady:icon_tease:. That's all you need is a QB and a defensive coach. You traded your real QB. Charger players just keep popping on drug tests (when are they going to punish the organization a draft pick and 750K to make sure they run a clean organization?). I'm sorry, but your window is closed. LT is done, the injuries will come fast and furius now (not that I want him to get hurt, but that's just how injuries work, especially with RB's).

yeah, and by the way, I'm not new, just my first post (on any board), I've been lurking here (and other team sites) for years, including when you guys (for some reason) thought there was some sort of rivalry between our teams. There isn't. Just the colts. Your team bores me. :icon_rofl:

Anyways, pleased to meat you.
jason

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More to come, according to Greg Bishop of the NY Times Goodell only admitted to Arlen Spectre after the SB that the taping the Patriots had done was from 2000 to present.

Goodell has been hiding this fact from NFL fans since September of 07 when he went on NBC and declared that most of the cheating was done in recent seasons, commish in my eye has perjured himself and it should be enough grounds to have Godell impeached as comish of the NFL. What a POS Goodell is.

"Mr. Walsh has never claimed to have a tape of the walk-through. Mr. Walsh has never been the source of any of the media speculation about such a tape. Mr. Walsh was not the source for the Feb. 2 Boston Herald article."

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This doesn't mean that Belichick is innocent at all. It means that Walsh had no connection to the Boston Herald story. Clearly the Pats did tape a bunch of stuff - Walsh's videos prove that - and whether or not they taped the Rams before the Super Bowl is still up in the air until the Herald tells us all who the actual source for their article really was.

Lack of evidence. Walsh just gave the nfl 8 tapes of the pats cheating way back when. Just a wild guess but the pats got alot more cheating with the taping as time went on and they didn't get caught. Very possibly thats why the pats dumped walsh cause walsh had a concience.

Bellycheat and the pats owner should be booted out of the league forever and they should be stipped of their super bowl wins. But the weasel money hungry nfl hierchy will try and candy coat and gloss over this extreme breaking of rules. Ashwipe rich scumsuucking owners.

no biggie? Honestly at 100% do you think you would have had an ounce of a chance to beat us in the AFC Championship game?

no biggie? your less then 2 minutes away from the Superbowl Championship and Eli throws a hail mary to win the game?

no biggie? you must be on crack if you expect me to believe that you couldn't eat, sleep, drink after that loss.

no biggie? your wife's at my house, can you pick her up.

Players take steriods and they get suspended, they pay for what they did along the rules of the NFL. So if Merriman, Harrison, whoever did drugs, they paid for it, it is a wash across all teams as far as i'm concerened. But cheating at this level, with the filming of the opposite team when it is explicitly prohibited, and to have your numb nuts of a coach say, "I interpreted the rules differently!" Then you are just as dumb as BB hope you would be to believe his defense.

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Bottom Line =

BelliCHEAT did not ask his video department to make snuf films of other teams so he could show off and say look Mr. Kraft "look what a great video library we have!!!"

He asked his video team to tape other teams in hopes of garnering an unfair advantage i.e. to CHEAT!

It's all well and good that maybe other teams did the same, but how many and who we will never know unless some boneheaded coach like BeliCHEAT gets caught and other tapes surface, the chances of that happening now, less than zero %.

The undisputed fact is the Patriots GOT CAUGHT! and now and forever they will be the posterboys for CHEATING in the NFL. All that remains is how much more my boy Spectre can squeeze out of the NFL and hope that it's hammer and anvil, the Patsies get hammered again!

This doesn't mean that Belichick is innocent at all. It means that Walsh had no connection to the Boston Herald story. Clearly the Pats did tape a bunch of stuff - Walsh's videos prove that - and whether or not they taped the Rams before the Super Bowl is still up in the air until the Herald tells us all who the actual source for their article really was.

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yahn!!!
this is nothing new. And in 01' if we did it, they hadn't yet created a rule, so it's not against a rule. And that's OK. It's like saying if in... well... most years, if steroids weren't illegal, your team (past and presant) would not get in trouble. But now it is... to both of our detriment.